Preview: ModNation Racers (PSP) Hands-On Impressions

Author’s Note: This Impressions/Preview article was published May 4, 2010 and originally appeared on Examiner.com. Clicking on this link and this link will take you to its original location.

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ModNation Racers is Sony’s upcoming kart racer for the PS3 and PSP. SCE San Diego Studios is handling the PSP version of United Front Games’ PS3 title and while I don’t have the PS3 version, what’s present in the PSP version of this racing game is not only very promising, but very robust as well. In addition to regular racing modes, ModNation Racers will have a career mode and full racer, kart and track creation tools as well — not to mention online gameplay for the final version (not available in this build) and a MNR PSP exclusive lap-by-lap elimination race style called Last Kart Standing. Based on what I saw in this build, ModNation Racers could be a game that PSP owners will keep playing over and over again.

The heart and soul of any kart racer is its core gameplay and ModNation Racers’ is good quality — good quality gameplay that’s comparable to Mario Kart. ModNation Racers is reminiscent of Mario Kart in many ways (all positive) — there are crazy power-ups, the tide of the race can turn at any time, the handling of the karts is tight, and the game is more than accessible to all ages.

However, where ModNation Racers takes a welcome split from Mario Kart is in aggressive tactics — whereas bumping into an opponent in Mario Kart might not get you anywhere, ModNation Racers encourages this, sideswiping and “stomping” (landing on an opponent after a jump). However, there’s a catch — these aggressive tactics use up your boost, which you might need later on in this race. ModNation Racers offers a heated racing experience to the end, so using up boost just to take out an opponent might not be such a good idea. These risk/reward tactics add a bit of welcome strategy to MNR and also makes sure that all players can be aggressive in the game without necessarily needing weapons to fight with.

Heavy Rain Demo (PS3) Hands-On Impressions

Author’s Note: This Impressions/Preview article was published February 6, 2010 and originally appeared on Examiner.com. Clicking on this link and this link will take you to its original location.

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Heavy Rain has many PlayStation3 owners intrigued — and with good reason. Heavy Rain is a game that seeks to put a greater emphasis on deep characters and story than most games, while keeping them engaged in a quality gameplay experience. Every choice the player makes could potentially help or hinder the hunt for the maniac serial killer. However, there’s also some doubt about Heavy Rain. Many naysayers have written the game off as a Dragon’s Lair-esque experience or a QTE-fest. Others say that Heavy Rain will fall short of its goal of offering a powerful, mature gameplay experience.

If the demo is anything to go by, Heavy Rain is very likely to live up to the hype.

The demo for Heavy Rain introduces two of the four main characters in the game, FBI Agent Norman Jayden and Private Detective Scott Shelby. The demo’s tutorial begins in a dark alley being hammered by rain, with the player being given control of Shelby. The player is asked to open Shelby’s car door so that he can exit the vehicle. The player uses the right analog stick to open the door and can do so at varying speeds. The player can also open and close the door, giving him or her full control over the animation. The control over animations is important, because it demonstrates that the player is fully in control of the Heavy Rain experience — he/she isn’t just pressing buttons to execute animations.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Demo Ops (PSP) Impressions

Author’s Note: This Impressions/Preview article was published January 3, 2010 and originally appeared on Examiner.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is one of the most anticipated PSP games of the year. Not only is Peace Walker another installment of Kojima Productions’ best-selling MGS franchise, Peace Walker is the first MGS on the PSP since MGS: Portable Ops in 2006. Kojima Productions has released an English demo of Peace Walker for fans to enjoy while they eagerly anticipate Peace Walker’s May release. A demo this polished, though, just makes the wait even more difficult.

The first thing gamers anticipating Peace Walker should know is that the game doesn’t share any of the specialist gathering, team building elements from Portable Ops. Peace Walker adheres much closer to the MGS experiences of the console installments. As a matter of fact, Peace Walker is probably the closest gamers can get to having a console MGS available for them on the go.

One of the most important and dramatic ways that Peace Walker brings the MGS experience to PSP is control quality. Kojima Productions came up with not one, but two very functional control layouts — one of which should feel mostly familiar to veterans of the MGS franchise. Peace Walker’s controls even function well in shooting situations, but Auto Aim can be more beneficial when the enemy’s been alerted and Big Boss is surrounded by guards. However, when it comes to precision shots (i.e. lining up a tranquilizer dart shot), the regular aiming controls are much better. Auto Aim will land your shot, but you may waste several darts before the guard finally succumbs to your darts.

Preview: Metal Gear Online Beta Impressions (PS3)

Author’s Note: This preview was published April 28, 2008 and originally appeared on Kombo.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

Hideo Kojima seems to have an obsession with pleasing gamers. First, he announces that MGS4 has an online component. Then, he announces it’s a separate online action game, Metal Gear Online, which will be bundled for free with MGS4. Finally, to top it all off, Kojima Productions & Konami announce that those who pre-ordered MGS4 before a certain time would gain access to a private beta of MGO. Well, after what seems like eons of eternal wait, the beta has finally arrived. How is it? What is it like? 

In a word, awesome.